ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 PCI-E Sound Card Review

Drivers and Software Bundle

The Xonar drivers installed on the first attempt in both XP and Vista and they offered tight control and adjustment over features and output quality. Theses drivers are very refined and it seems nothing is missing for the user. There were some simple issues, such as light popping when switching sample rates after playing some audio samples but this is a minor issue at most.

Vista seems to have issues with any driver configurations when audio is playing and will simply stop your output. Although this behavior has been seen in many soundcard drivers, it would seem to be more of a Vista sound issue and not so much a problem with the soundcard.




The main driver pane contains settings for output sample rate, output speaker configuration and S/PDIF settings. There are also enable/disable effects check boxes for the Dolby Labs audio enhancements such as 7.1 speaker shifter, Dolby Prologic IIX and Dolby Headphone. There are further configurations panes for finer settings related to the individual Dolby effects. These settings help the user dial in the effect exactly how they prefer.




The Mixer driver pane provides the user full access to all faders for both playback output control and audio recording inputs. There are further settings for monitoring particular inputs and advanced settings for certain recording inputs such as the microphone. All input and output levels to the card are controlled from this section. If you are at all familiar with external audio mixers you will feel right at home with these drivers.


Effect


The effect pane contains controls for environmental reverb effects such as Concert hall and Jazz club and 13 other environmental presets. There are further settings for size of the reverb environment (Small, Medium, Large) and a -20dB to +20dB Graphic Equalizer complete with 12 presets and a user preset load/save system.

The frequency analyzer is always present in the upper pane of the drivers and any setting of the equalizer is immediately noticeable in the audio analyzer's graphic output. This feedback from the analyzer can assist new users with EQ changes and help familiarize them with how the equalizer modifies the output spectrum.


Karaoke


The Karaoke pane gives the best effects of all. After all what is a soundcard without karaoke? There are settings for Key shifting for all you baritones and sopranos, this effect changes the key of the audio playing to match your voice or singing style. There are further settings for Vocal cancellation which removes the singer from the playing track.

Note: this effect either works like magic or not at all. It is dependent on how the track was mixed. The last slider controls the amount of Microphone Echo to help enhance your singing. Time to polish up your Pavarotti opera chops!


Flexbass


The Flexbass panel gives the user control over the Bass redirection for the card. There is a slider for exact cutoff frequency as well as speaker size for each channel in your set configurations e.g. Small, Large. Bass redirect filters unneeded bass away from your smaller satellite speakers and channels the bass to where it belongs: the subwoofer. There are also full settings for headphone bass redirection with settings for small and large headphones as some headphones are earbuds and some are large over the ear type so these settings are unique.


AEC


This pane provides the user with settings for acoustic echo cancellation. This setting greatly enhances the clarity of desktop microphones canceling echo and feedback up to -40dB. Now you won't have your friends yelling at you on team speak to turn off your mic or stop strangling that goose! Asus offered a small desktop microphone with the Xonar U1 for use with these settings and speech applications. However, they think frills like these are unwarranted and unneeded in Xonar DX bundle.


VocalFX


This pane provides the user with settings for 3D FX for allowing the user to change their voice when playing online games or asking for ransom for your friends copy of Bioshock. Further settings for VOiP allow the user to add their personal chat programs and effect or disguise their voice while using these applications. Presets offer the user choices between monster, cartoon and pitch shifting effect presets for male and female.

Overall, the Xonar device drivers are a very well thought out driver set with a refined feel to them. All settings are easily accessible for the user and most settings are easy to understand and apply. These drivers are used in all of the Xonar soundcards. This driver symmetry makes adding another Xonar product to one of your systems very easy as learning a new driver set is unnecessary.


ASUS PMP Lite


The included PMP Lite application offers quick and easy file conversion of your MP3 and WMA music files to other formats and also allows the user to apply Dolby effects to the files. All main settings are upfront and easily accessible making this application very easy to use. The included Dolby output effects can help to give your music files a more ambient sound and Dolby Headphone gives your stereo music a 5.1 virtual image that is quite impressive when in use. This application also allows you to put other effects on the audio and save them with the effects applied for use on personal audio/video players.

Output file Settings:
MP3 128-320kbps, CBR
WMA 128-320kbps, CBR
Effects: Smart Volume Normalization, Dolby Headphone and Dolby Virtual Speaker.